The Sales Process

I recently came across a sales process presentation and it made me think about the connection between the sales process and bookkeeping process. I am a small business owner and I know the best results for my business come from my direct involvement in the methods of obtaining new clients. The formula at the beginning was pretty simple – meet a lot of people, have a lot of consultations and some of the people you met will become your clients. Over time and with many hours of networking, I realized there are few more variables in this formula, which will affect the results specifically shorting the time spent on networking and raising the quality of clients. The total hours spent on obtaining new clients is a big deal because it takes time away from supporting current clients. The quality of clients means a lot to me because I will spend a lot of hours working directly with them.

So, I started by writing down the process of how I obtain and work with clients. Like the quote: “keep it simple”. Writing down the steps seems simple enough and it works great too!

Main points:
– Start with the end in mind. When I book a vacation, I need a destination; to produce financial statements, I need destination numbers to measure success; to gain the right clients I need to have a description of the ideal client in mind.
– Create a deadline. Before you start with any course you are taking, create a timeline within which you will see results. If you stop earlier – you won’t give yourself enough time to see results; if you stay too long – you may be going in the wrong direction. By having a deadline even before you start, you will have a milestone to reach and reflect on the progress.
– Write down the steps needed to reach your destination. Identifying the steps will help you to create a system for your business and allow you to bring new members aboard with already established measures.
– Focus on personalized lead generation channels. Your business is different because it has you, and you function in ways that make sense for you and allows your skills to shine. It is essential to identify what works for you from the beginning and why.
– Hire the right client. You will be working with them and spending your time to help them. To feel accomplished, we enjoy helping people that we like. If you establish personalized lead generation channels – it should automatically bring you the right clients.
– Create a mapping process. Like IT codes which make computers work as we need, you would need to create a process where you know the next steps after each decision.

Creating a process and system, will ensure that your business works even without you and what is the business in the first place? – an established machine with codes/steps which operates as you want without your involvement.

A big thank you to Joe Matz, for helping me to make the connection with his Sales Process and Process Mapping slide deck.